The antipsychotic drug lurasidone inhibits coronaviruses by affecting multiple targets

Coronaviruses (CoVs) share key genomic elements critical for viral replication, suggesting the feasibility of developing therapeutics with efficacy across different viruses. In a previous work, we demonstrated the antiviral activity of the antipsychotic drug lurasidone against both SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-OC43. In this study, our investigations on the mechanism of action of lurasidone suggested that the drug exhibits antiviral activity by targeting the papain-like protease (PL-Pro) of both viruses, and the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, thereby hampering both the entry and the viral replication. In vitro assays demonstrate that lurasidone significantly reduces viral load in infected cells, showing that the drug is a promising candidate for further development as a dual-action antiviral, offering a potential new strategy in the fight against COVID-19 and other coronavirus-related diseases.